By Columbo Julius
Sucks.
Posted on October 25, 2018
Holiday Hullabaloo
By The Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus
The Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus celebrates 35 years of making music with their upcoming 35th Anniversary Holiday Hullabaloo.
The chorus will be joined by 11 additional Chicago-based LGBTQ+ performing arts organizations, including About Face Theatre, Allegrezza, Artemis Singers, Chicago Pride Guard, Chicago Spirit Brigade, Chicago Tap Theatre, GayCo, Lakeside Pride Music Ensembles, Lakeview Orchestra, Pride Films & Plays, and Windy City Gay Chorus.
With 22 musical numbers performed by members of 12 organizations, CGMC will contribute 150 singing voices with 20 dancers. Holiday Hullabaloo will be performed November 30 – December 2 at three different venues in the Chicagoland area. Visit cgmc.org/holiday for more information and tickets.
Posted on October 18, 2018
Lyric Musicians Ratify Contract
By The Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra
The musicians of the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra ratified on Sunday the tentative agreement reached Saturday evening with Lyric management.
The musicians of the orchestra went on strike on October 9 for one reason: to preserve the Lyric Opera that generations of Chicagoans have built over the past 65 years. A world-class opera company needs a world-class orchestra. The musicians will never stop fighting for that ideal, but at this time, the music needs to return to the Civic Opera House. Further cancellations by Lyric management were threatened, and the result would have been destructive for everyone – Lyric, the musicians and other Lyric employees, and Lyric’s loyal patrons.
Posted on October 14, 2018
Lyric Opera Strike | A View From The Pit
By The Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra
As the strike continues, we must turn our attention to where so many of Lyric’s problems lie: the management of Lyric Opera of Chicago and, in particular, Anthony Freud.
A Familiar Story: The CEO Gets a Big Raise While Cutting Workers’ Pay
It is undisputed that Freud and Lyric’s upper management have exploded the budget from $60.4 million in 2012 to $84.5 million in 2017. Where has that $24 million gone? Certainly not to the orchestra. As we’ve pointed out, the orchestra’s share of the budget shrank from 14.6 percent to 11.9 percent during that time.
Here’s one clue: While the musicians’ salaries have stagnated, Freud’s has not. He saw a compensation increase of 18 percent from 2014 to 2017. In 2016 alone, right after the orchestra musicians agreed to a wage-neutral contract with health care cuts, Freud got a 16 percent raise. His annual salary last year was a staggering $784,387 – roughly 12 times a musician’s base salary of $65,912 this year.
Posted on October 11, 2018